Flickering Candles
by Corrosionz
Summary: Like the blow of one's breath to corrupt a candle's flame; so too life ends.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or its characters. Tite Kubo and SP are the sole owners.**

**Rating: PG**

**Pairing: Gin/Rangiku**

**Warnings: Curse words; death.**

**Spoilers: Up to chapter 414 of the manga.**

**Author's Note: This is a FAR stretch. I realize that with the latest chapter that Gin rendered Aizen's illusions ineffective but I can easily see Aizen one step ahead of Gin with an illusion in place long before Gin had been aware. Possibly while he was away talking to Ranigku? Anyways, just a total long shot. An excuse to write something tragic. -shrug- Enjoy anyways. =)**

"_If you love me, let me go. And run away before I know. My heart is just too dark to care. I can't destroy what isn't there." - _Slipknot

* * *

The smile on Aizen's face was not something that Ichimaru had anticipated. It was quite the opposite, in fact. Aizen was a smug bastard, but considering the gravity of the situation, a smile was not something that belonged.

Neither did that small laugh he gave.

Gin knit his eyebrows together. What was going on?

As if reading his silent question loud and clear, hollow-brown eyes locked with his face, slowly fading away to light blue. Blue?

A pained hiss passed through clenched teeth as Aizen's smile melted away to a contorted face of anguish and surprise. His long god-like hair turned from a dark brown to a light reddish-blonde. White attire to black.

It was a trick. How could he have fallen for a trick? How? He had planned this all perfectly. And yet-

"G-Gin!" She sputtered, her beautiful orbs quivering up at him in dismay.

His pulse pounded inside his temple, nearly leaving him deaf under its severe pressure. Shaking, his hand reached out to touch her collar bone. Breathing and bleeding. This was indeed the woman he had temporarily immobilized. This was the woman who had risked her life to come see him. This was the woman he had left behind. This was the woman who-

Her hands clawed at his white robes desperately, her breaths coming out in harsh wheezes.

Gin shook his head, his smile long gone, and eyes completely wide and unblinking, "Rangiku."

No, no, no, no, no, no…not _now_. Not like this. Not by _his _sword.

Rangiku let her forehead rest against his chest, her body slumping into his shaking bones, as she fought to stay conscious.

"You…you betrayed Aizen…that's why you didn't answer me," She managed through winded breaths, "-that's why you wouldn't say why you serve Aizen. Because…you don't. You didn't. You were using him. Are you going to…help us?"

He remained silent, his mind racing and standing-still all in one go. The poison inside her would surely corrupt her life in a mere matter of moments. There was nothing that could be done. All the blood already staining his hands held nothing in comparison to the fresh stain of her crimson tears.

She stared at the reddening fabric of his clothes and she sighed, tears of agony and regret mixing with the thick liquid.

"I wish that…I-"

Gin swallowed and swallowed again, the lump in his throat leaving an aching in his neck and mouth. Shaking, his hands wrapped around her and held her still; protecting her and comforting her one last time.

He listened to her give a half-laugh. Out of ironic realization and terror.

"Persimmons won't help me this time, will they Gin?"

"…"

Rangiku clung to him tighter, as tight as her leaking strength would allow her, "Say something."

What was there to say? _You're dying; sorry about that_?

"You asked me…why I came here and I said because you were here…that's true…but I-" She shivered, a cooling calm spreading through her nerves like a wild current, causing her to gasp at its intensity, "-that's true but I…Gin I want you to know that I…how I feel about yo-"

"No."

She closed her misty eyes, rubbing her forehead against his clothes, listening to the uneven breathing inside his chest.

"But I-"

"_No_, Rangiku."

He would not allow it. Not after all this time; all of these tears and regrets that he knew she carried. He knew how she felt. He had always known by the way she chased after him like a homesick puppy.

"I don't deserve it."

Rangiku wanted to smile but felt the hard pull of her unresponsive muscles and knew it would be impossible. Something was choking her from the inside-out. It wouldn't be long before she was completely suffocated by her own blood and his weapon.

"You're right. You _don't _deserve it. But it's still there. No matter how hard I try to ignore it."

"Stop it," He all but commanded her through a wired-shut jaw.

Gin's hands fisted into her dampened robes, his red eyes staring at the surroundings of Karakura town with unseeing vision.

No matter how many times she justified it, or agreed with him, it would never be enough. This was a gift. Hearing her finally say that she loved him was a gift; a gift that he had forsaken long ago. So to give it to him in her last breaths was no something he would tolerate. Not now. Not with the plans he had festering inside his mind. Aizen was to be eliminated and the King's Key was going to be his. He was to be the new god.

Her final moments were going to be spent quietly braced against a traitor's chest instead of surrounded by her hundreds of friends inside the Soul Society. There would be no proper send-off. No cries of outrage from that Shuuhei Hisagi brat. There would be absolutely nothing.

Emotions. He had none.

_Right_?

"You're such…an ass," She growled, tears pitter-pattering against the hot concrete of the town's streets.

That was more like it. This is what he deserved.

Her hate.

She clung tighter, a burning highlighting her blood like fire to gasoline. Poison. He'd poisoned her. How?

"I'm not afraid, Gin. I do not fear death as you do."

No…she was wrong. Aizen had known all along what he had meant when he said that he feared death.

Not his death.

"…At least now I won't have to worry…about where you've run off to," She coughed, her knees trembled as they gave way beneath her.

Gin held her in place against him. Not letting her fall.

Her head lulled backwards, flecks of golden hair mating with blue eyes as she looked up at him, that ornery twinkle edging away to a dull void.

"I don't have to worry anymore," Rangiku repeated, irises turning an ashy gray as her life faded.

Strange how her life began and now ended with him.

The quivering around the edges of his eyes told her all she needed to know. Finally, with all the strength she could muster, she flashed him one last smile, "Gin-"

A breath from the wind; like the dousing of a candle flame by the blow of one's breath.

An unfinished heartbeat that had matched with his. Gone.

She was gone.

_Ironic_, he thought, as he gently set her down on the ground. His white robes really should have been as black as hers. She deserved the innocence that white portrayed.

Glancing down at the dark red soiling his clothes, he sighed. White and black united in a red embrace.

He couldn't help himself. He bowed his head and just breathed. Giving her that moment of silence she deserved; albeit she deserved it from anyone but him.

The ex-third division captain hadn't really needed the poison from Kamishini no Yari after all. He had been poisoning with his presence since the day he had met her.

His hands fisted angrily.

Aizen…that bastard had known.

Gin hadn't feared his own death.

He had feared _hers_.


End file.
